Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

In the age of automation, this is how immigrants help American workers

In the age of automation, this is how immigrants help American workers

Without immigration, automation technology typically eliminates many middle-skill jobs. Many middle-class American workers may have immigrants to thank for their jobs.

The immigration of low-skilled workers mitigates the harmful effects automation can have on American workers, according to a new working paper distributed by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Consequently, the paper’s authors — researchers from the Bank of Italy, the United States Naval Academy and the University of California, Davis — argue that those seeking to limit immigration could hurt workers born in the U.S. and, by proxy, the American middle class.

Why immigrants are good for U.S.-born […]

Strategies to create jobs in India: How to reap the dividend gifted by demography

Strategies to create jobs in India: How to reap the dividend gifted by demography

By Atul Raja and Kushal Prakash

When the number of cellphones sold in India touched the billion mark in 2013, India manufactured very few cellphones. Mindful of the growing mobile phone market in the country, the government increased the import tariff for mobiles in 2015 (making the import of finished mobile devices more expensive than producing it locally – an exercise known as correcting the inverted duty structure). The reform, along with a few structural changes, made India one of the fastest growing mobile manufacturing economies in the world with more than 42 plants set up in the last […]

Towards a future of work that works for everyone

The future of work concerns us all. Our grandchildren will have jobs that don’t yet exist, and will live lives we cannot imagine. In Europe, getting the future of work right for individuals, societies and industries means having an open debate about the possibilities right now. We want to be a part of that discussion, and help contribute to a future of work that works for everyone. So last week in Stockholm and The Hague we brought together a range of leading international experts from academia, trade unions, public sector and businesses to discuss the impact of technology on […]

The new work order

The new work order

If robots are going to be the accountants, what is the point of getting a degree? Rebecca Stevenson reports on the future of work, and finds old skills are getting a new relevance.

Late last month 100 New Zealand companies including Xero, Fonterra, The Warehouse, Spark and Fisher & Paykel signed an open letter that stated tertiary qualifications would not be needed for a number of skilled roles at these organisations.

They instead are going to look at skills, attitude and adaptability, rather than relying on a bachelors as a denoter of a quality employee.Education ‘futurist’, Mind Lab founder Frances […]

Unemployment Rates, A Broken Economic Barometer

Unemployment Rates, A Broken Economic Barometer

jblndl The rapid rise in part-time employment has undermined what was, until now, the instrument of choice to evaluate the job market. What comes in its place?

-Analysis-

PARIS — It’s a new puzzle for central bankers in developed countries. Improvements in economic activity and the subsequent drop in unemployment levels over the past two years haven’t translated into higher wages, and inflation has thus been almost non-existent.For those versed in economics, everything is happening as if the Phillips curve no longer existed. This longstanding model is based on the assumption of an inverse relationship between the inflation […]

Commentary: The future of work – new underclass, dystopian reality?

Commentary: The future of work – new underclass, dystopian reality?

SINGAPORE: The dust will take decades to settle on the key issue of precisely how much technology and artificial intelligence (AI) will displace human labour.

But it is already clear the coming decades will see a sizeable proportion of jobs worldwide threatened and substituted by automation, machine learning, or a combination of both.

It is increasingly apparent too that jobs commonly reckoned to be “safe” at present may in fact be candidates for an AI takeover, with many knowledge workers themselves candidates for displacement.Research by McKinsey from 2015 suggests that current technologies alone could automate 45 per cent of the activities […]

Who’s Afraid Of Artificial Intelligence?

Who's Afraid Of Artificial Intelligence?

Can artificial intelligence replace the human brain?Will it? What role for humans in the future? (Photo credit: Shutterstock) “Humans were are not built to spend more than two hours looking at a screen or scrolling through excel sheets. Humans are best at being human. Artificial Intelligence will do the rest.”

Telling words from Jim Stolze, Co-founder of aigency (www.aigency.com) – an Amsterdam-based company that recruits AI and humans for work. Kind of an employment company run by three humans overseeing 59 robots (actually computers working on algorithms created at the University of Amsterdam to solve problems).

Stolze was addressing reporters in […]

Don’t West Virginia my Texas

Don’t West Virginia my Texas

West Virginia is in crisis.

The once proud and mighty United Mine Workers of America is now a shadow of itself, these days raging less against the boss and more against federal regulations designed to protect their communities. It has the highest rate of opioid-related deaths in the nation, and 17.9 percent of its population lives below the poverty line . In West Virginia, there is no need to fear a bleak dystopia; for many, it has already arrived. If West Texas oil field workers do not organize themselves to demand a fair transition from an extractive energy model to […]

Australians willing to accept pay cuts as Artificial Intelligence and robots threaten jobs

Australians willing to accept pay cuts as Artificial Intelligence and robots threaten jobs

In an effort to stay relevant, Galaxy’s Australian Futures Survey reveals proactive workers have:

• upgraded their skills (38 per cent);

• improved their performance (35 per cent);• worked longer hours (26 per cent);• looked for a new job (26 per cent);• worked in a casual role (21 per cent);• or accepted a pay cut (11 per cent).The future of work is a hot-button topic being tackled by the #WTF campaign, which aims to start a conversation about the big issues and encourage problem solvers to share their ideas.Readers can join in tomorrow on the What’s the Future, Australia? website (wtf.org.au) […]

Will you lose your job because of artificial intelligence?

Will you lose your job because of artificial intelligence?

Every week, whether in the press or blog posts, social media, and around our surroundings, we read or hear about artificial intelligence (AI) and its relationship with employment – and majority of that content tends to paint a negative relationship between these two subjects.

If it’s not Mark Zuckerberg advising tech giants to stop blowing AI dangers out of proportion, it is Elon Musk warning governments to regulate the sector before it gets out of hand or Vladimir Putin giving leadership to any country that leads in AI. But to the ordinary employee, the advancement of AI technology could pose […]